Kathmandu, July 24 -- funded programme that has helped mobilise over Rs830 million (£5.37 million) in private investment and connect more than 156,203 smallholder farmers-62 percent of them women-to markets across Nepal officially wrapped up on Wednesday.

The Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) programme, implemented by NIRAS and Swisscontact, has worked since 2019 to tackle a long-standing issue in Nepal's agriculture sector: transforming smallholder-based supply chains into commercially viable business opportunities.

Although agriculture employs more than 60 percent of Nepal's population, the sector remains severely underfinanced.

UN-ESCAP says banks meet only 20 percent of the estimated $3.6 billion ...